Advertisement

  1. National

UK attacks Russian support for Syria regime after US airstrikes

The UK government has attacked Russia's role in alliance with the Syria regime as international tensions continue in the aftermath of the suspected chemical attack and retaliatory US airstrikes.

Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson has pulled out of a visit to Moscow saying "we deplore Russia's continued defence of the Assad regime".

Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon has said Russia is responsible for "every civilian death" in Bashar Assad's suspected sarin attack on his own people.

US President Donald Trump has meanwhile written to both chambers of Congress justifying his decision to launch the retaliation strikes.

US senator John McCain has told ITV News the US and its allies must add momentum to Mr Trump's intervention by working to force President Assad out.

View all 42 updates ›

Corbyn condemns US airstrike and calls for peace talks

Jeremy Corbyn has condemned the US airstrike Credit: PA

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has condemned the US missile attack on a Syrian airbase - warning it risks escalating the country's civil war further.

He said the UK - instead of backing the action as it has done thus far - should "urge restraint" from the Trump administration and reconvene the Geneva peace talks.

Tuesday’s horrific chemical attack was a war crime which requires urgent independent UN investigation and those responsible must be held to account.

But unilateral military action without legal authorisation or independent verification risks intensifying a multi-sided conflict that has already killed hundreds of thousands of people. What is needed instead is to urgently reconvene the Geneva peace talks and unrelenting international pressure for a negotiated settlement of the conflict.

The terrible suffering of the Syrian people must be brought to an end as soon as possible and every intervention must be judged on what contribution it makes to that outcome.

The British government should urge restraint on the Trump administration and throw its weight behind peace negotiations and a comprehensive political settlement.

– Jeremy Corbyn
  1. Read more
  2. 42 updates
UK attacks Russian support for Syria regime after US airstrikes

More on this story